Gina Settlement Press

Since our decision to to ask members to refrain from any further discussion of Gina Ford, her methods or her books on the site we have been the subject of features in newspapers, on the television and in blogs.

To find out why we decided to take this action, click here. The most recent statements from both Gina Ford and us can be found here.

Newspapers

(*registration/membership required)

We could lose our home over a young mum's joke
Evening Standard, 27 February 2007, Alison Roberts

"Legal action against parenting website Mumsnet by a so-called childcare guru could close the site down..." Read more

"Gina Ford, the baby-raising guru known as the Queen of Routine because of her strict rearing methods, has hit back at critics..." Read more

Queen of Routine lashes out at her liberal childcare critics
The Guardian, 26 February 2007, Jeevan Vasagar

"The childcare expert known as the Queen of Routine for her adherence to strict baby-rearing methods turned on her numerous critics yesterday..." Read more

Both idolised and reviled, baby advisor Gina Ford hits back
The Mail on Sunday, 25 February 2007, Elizabeth Day

"As the baby-raising guru prepares to sue her many critics, a fascinating insight into her childhood..." Read more

Taking the hassle (and fun) out of childbirth
The Guardian, 23 January 2007, Justine Roberts

"If you're pregnant but too posh to shop, not to worry - help is at hand from a new service that will source the best buggy for you, decorate the nursery, and even advise on sleeping routines..." Read more

The children's party is over. Now for the £50,000 bill
The Observer, 14 January 2007, Amelia Hill

"The jelly and cake days are gone as birthdays become the latest test of parental devotion ..." Read more

Harriet Harman "will also promise to create a website for parents... modelled on the success of Mumsnet..." Read more

Baby BomberProspect Magazine, October 2006, Josephine Wall

"A mischievous comment in an internet chatroom for new mothers gets me into hot water..." Read more
War of words between Gina Ford and parenting websiteChild and Adolescent Mental Health Bulletin, September 2006

"A row has erupted between parenting guru and bestselling author, Gina Ford, and Mumsnet, a leading online parenting community..." Read more

Can't censor the internet? Tell that to your compliant ISPThe Observer, 20 August 2006, John Naughton

"One of the canonical adages of cyberspace is John Gilmore's observation that 'the internet treats censorship as a defect and routes around it'..." Read more

"There have been more than a few times over the last few years that I have experienced a surge of love for the bolshy, brilliant mothers who swap advice, support and witticisms on Mumsnet, the parenting website I co-founded with a friend from ante-natal class six years ago, but few as intense as the one I felt when I logged on last Sunday..." Read more

The Sunday Times, 13 August 2006, Rod Liddle

If you are not the possessor of a baby then there is little reason for you to have come across that smug ball of bovine advice, Gina Ford..." Read more

The Sunday Times, 13 August 2006, India Knight

"Speaking of the internet I see my old friend Gina Ford, the childless baby expert whose methods I personally find both brutal and dubious in the extreme..." Read more

"Gina Ford, 'the Queen of Routine', the so called childcare guru and author of The Contented Little Baby, is definitely not a happy bunny..." Read more

Babycare guru fires back at Mumsnet The Register, 10 August 2006, Lucy Sherriff

'Childcare guru Gina Ford says she is not seeking to close down the Mumsnet website, but has merely acted to defend herself from what she describes as a 'long-running campaign by which Mumsnet published very serious and offensive libels about me'..." Read more

When journalism is shackled, it's the powerful and rich who benefitThe Scotsman*, 10 August 2006, Paul Stokes

"How long should a young mum be left to bawl in an internet chatroom before she is threatened with a lawyer's letter..." Read more

"Baby expert Gina Ford has threatened legal action over "gross personal attacks" about her on a website for mothers. Not usually known for their vitriol, why does she bring out such extreme reactions in parents..." Read more

Our mums could do it, so why do we need gurus to help us bring up baby?
The Times, 9 August 2006, Sarah Ebner
"I’m lucky. When I had my first child, I had three “experts” (my mother, older sister and sister-in-law) to ask for advice. I listened hard, muddled along, and it seemed to work..." Read more

"Gina Ford, the baby expert whose advice is either loved or loathed by parents, has demanded the closure of a popular internet site for mothers after it published what she claims to be defamatory comments about her..." Read more

Childcare expert threatens to have website shut down
The Guardian, 8 August 2006, Hugh Muir

"Gina Ford, the childcare expert whose advocacy of strict rearing techniques attracts critics and devotees in equal measure, has threatened to have a website used by 250,000 mothers shut down, claiming it has published allegedly defamatory remarks about her..." Read more

"Hot on the heels of the extraordinary vaudeville that was the Sheridan libel trial, lawyers acting for Gina Ford, the childcare author, are trying to close down the innocuous-sounding www.mumsnet.com..." Read more

The Times Law, 8 August 2006, The Water Cooler
"Think of the children! Author Gina Ford is taking action against mumsnet.com, a community site for bored parents, because of discussion board postings critical of her bestseller The Contented Little Baby Book..." Read more

Comment is free at The Guardian"It seems obscene to laugh at anything remotely connected with the awful events in Lebanon, but when Gina Ford's latest statement flashed up on my screen last night, that's all I could do..." Read more

CyberSoc"Gina Ford instructed her solicitors to send a letter to the ISP hosting mumsnet (update: another site is also reporting letters from Fords solicitors), threatening to sue them for libel if they didn't cease hosting the community site for moms and expectant moms, she probably had no idea how much attention it would get in the newspapers..." Read more

Doing it all again"I was just reading the ten blogs I read everyday when I saw something in Tim’s posts for the day that made me stop in my tracks . He has linked to articles in The Telegraph and Times about how Gina Ford is trying to close immensely popular forum for mums, mumsnet..." Read more

Blaise Grimes-Vort on handbag.com"One of the recurring issues for Community staff is finding the right balance between allowing conversation and debate to flourish within their communities whilst avoiding risking legal ramifications. UK law dictates that dicussion boards and forums are treated as publications, firmly placing respondibility of content and community members' opinions on the shoulders of the virtual space owners..." Read more

Daddytypes"You know what's funny about England? They speak English, but they still have different names for things. They have a best-selling, but controversial cry-it-out baby scheduler like Dr. Ferber, only her name is Gina Ford. And their Urbanbaby, a message board where parents--mostly moms, really--trade advice and heated discussion, is called Mumsnet..." Read more

Rose Tinted Web
"The saga of Mumsnet v. Gina Ford has stirred up the debate on Freedom of Speech online. Gina Ford, a parenting guru (without her own children) seems to have objected to some of the comments made on the Mumsnet Bulletin Board..." Read more

Charlotte's Web"A huge debate has exploded in the UK around what can and cannot be published online. Childcare expert Gina Ford, author of The Contented Little Baby Book and others, is threatening to sue the website Mumsnet, a forum run on a part-time basis by a group of mothers, for defamatory comments that appear in a couple of threads..." Read more

Pewari's Prattle"I have watched, listened and read many of the news reports surrounding the Gina Ford vs. Mumsnet fracas. What I find interesting is that many news outlets seem to be missing the main point and are turning this into a discussion of Ms Ford’s methods..." Read more